Wednesday - Temple visit

Wednesday morning our guide completed the paperwork for Lina's visa to travel to the US, then stopped by the hotel to pick us up for a sightseeing visit to a local Buddhist temple. It was a shorter drive than we expected - 1500 years ago when this temple was first built, it was probably a good ways outside of town, but now the city has enveloped it so it isn't that far away.

The central courtyard inside the temple

Our guide explained that the temple itself is 1500 years old. It is a walled compound with several shrines and some dormatory facilities for the monks who live there. Also at the center of the complex is a 10-plus story pagoda that our guide explained was built over 700 years ago. And we in the US are impressed by buildings that are 200 years old!

The main shrine housed three very large Buddha statues. One was to represent the past Buddha, one the present Buddha, and one the future Buddha. This day was a celebration of the past Buddha's birthday, so we got to see some of a ritual where the monks and the Buddhist people were singing and praying to the statues. It was kind of sad, kind of uncomfortable to watch, knowing that these folks were doing all this for a very large piece of wood that held no saving or helping power.

Our guide also explained that the man who introduced Buddhism from Nepal to China was born near Guangzhou, and this temple also had a shrine devoted to him. The worship ceremony moved from the Buddha shrine to this man's shrine. The styrofoam containers brought to the altar are full of live fish, which will be released into the river as a symbol of forgiveness.